Numerical Investigation of the Thermal Distortion in Multi-Laser Powder Bed Fusion(ML-PBF)Additive Manufacturing of Inconel 625

Metal additive manufacturing,especially laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF),is increasingly being used to fabricate complex parts with fine features.Emerging L-PBF systems have large build volumes and several lasers that op-erate simultaneously.Hence,they can produce large and complex parts at reduced costs and short build times.However,the thermal distortion remains a critical challenge.Hence,a thorough understanding of the impact of multiple lasers on part distortion in multi-laser PBF(ML-PBF)is imperative.Although experimental investigation is possible,a more conducive approach is to design and create suitable predictive models to understand the impact of multiple lasers consolidating a part into layers.To fulfill this goal,in this study,a commercially available and widely used thermo-mechanical model,Netfabb,was used to investigate the effects of multiple lasers for com-plex scan patterns such as raster,spiral,and Hilbert on the temperature distribution and thermal distortion.The results show that the thermal distortion is minimal for the spiral scan pattern.Additionally,multiple lasers were found to decrease the build time(as expected)while maintaining or reducing the thermal distortion compared with their single-laser counterparts for all scan patterns(except Hilbert).Therefore,the newly developed ML-PBF predictive model is capable of providing critical insights into the effects of using multiple lasers,thereby opening new possibilities for the faster production of complex parts.In the future,small-scale computational models will be expanded to include large-scale parts,and probabilistic models will be developed to establish correlations.

Influence of layer thickness on formation quality,microstructure,mechanical properties,and corrosion resistance of WE43 magnesium alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

Laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)of Mg alloys has provided tremendous opportunities for customized production of aeronautical and medical parts.Layer thickness(LT)is of great significance to the L-PBF process but has not been studied for Mg alloys.In this study,WE43 Mg alloy bulk cubes,porous scaffolds,and thin walls with layer thicknesses of 10,20,30,and 40μm were fabricated.The required laser energy input increased with increasing layer thickness and was different for the bulk cubes and porous scaffolds.Porosity tended to occur at the connection joints in porous scaffolds for LT40 and could be eliminated by reducing the laser energy input.For thin wall parts,a large overhang angle or a small wall thickness resulted in porosity when a large layer thicknesses was used,and the porosity disappeared by reducing the layer thickness or laser energy input.A deeper keyhole penetration was found in all occasions with porosity,explaining the influence of layer thickness,geometrical structure,and laser energy input on the porosity.All the samples achieved a high fusion quality with a relative density of over 99.5%using the optimized laser energy input.The increased layer thickness resulted to more precipitation phases,finer grain sizes and decreased grain texture.With the similar high fusion quality,the tensile strength and elongation of bulk samples were significantly improved from 257 MPa and 1.41%with the 10μm layer to 287 MPa and 15.12%with the 40μm layer,in accordance with the microstructural change.The effect of layer thickness on the compressive properties of porous scaffolds was limited.However,the corrosion rate of bulk samples accelerated with increasing the layer thickness,mainly attributed to the increased number of precipitation phases.

Microstructure and thermal properties of dissimilar M300–CuCr1Zr alloys by multi-material laser-based powder bed fusion

Multi-material laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) allows manufacturing of parts with 3-dimensional gradient and additional functionality in a single step. This research focuses on the combination of thermally-conductive CuCr1Zr with hard M300 tool steel.Two interface configurations of M300 on CuCr1Zr and CuCr1Zr on M300 were investigated. Ultra-fine grains form at the interface due to the low mutual solubility of Cu and steel. The material mixing zone size is dependent on the configurations and tunable in the range of0.1–0.3 mm by introducing a separate set of parameters for the interface layers. Microcracks and pores mainly occur in the transition zone.Regardless of these defects, the thermal diffusivity of bimetallic parts with 50vol% of CuCr1Zr significantly increases by 70%–150%compared to pure M300. The thermal diffusivity of CuCr1Zr and the hardness of M300 steel can be enhanced simultaneously by applying the aging heat treatment.

Characterization, preparation, and reuse of metallic powders for laser powder bed fusion: a review

Laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF) has attracted significant attention in both the industry and academic fields since its inception, providing unprecedented advantages to fabricate complex-shaped metallic components. The printing quality and performance of L-PBF alloys are infuenced by numerous variables consisting of feedstock powders, manufacturing process,and post-treatment. As the starting materials, metallic powders play a critical role in infuencing the fabrication cost, printing consistency, and properties. Given their deterministic roles, the present review aims to retrospect the recent progress on metallic powders for L-PBF including characterization, preparation, and reuse. The powder characterization mainly serves for printing consistency while powder preparation and reuse are introduced to reduce the fabrication costs.Various powder characterization and preparation methods are presented in the beginning by analyzing the measurement principles, advantages, and limitations. Subsequently, the effect of powder reuse on the powder characteristics and mechanical performance of L-PBF parts is analyzed, focusing on steels, nickel-based superalloys, titanium and titanium alloys, and aluminum alloys. The evolution trends of powders and L-PBF parts vary depending on specific alloy systems, which makes the proposal of a unified reuse protocol infeasible. Finally,perspectives are presented to cater to the increased applications of L-PBF technologies for future investigations. The present state-of-the-art work can pave the way for the broad industrial applications of L-PBF by enhancing printing consistency and reducing the total costs from the perspective of powders.

High-Efficiency Dynamic Scanning Strategy for Powder Bed Fusion by Controlling Temperature Field of the Heat-Affected Zone

Improvement of fabrication efficiency and part performance was the main challenge for the large-scale powder bed fusion(PBF)process.In this study,a dynamic monitoring and feedback system of powder bed temperature field using an infrared thermal imager has been established and integrated into a four-laser PBF equipment with a working area of 2000 mm×2000 mm.The heat-affected zone(HAZ)temperature field has been controlled by adjusting the scanning speed dynamically.Simultaneously,the relationship among spot size,HAZ temperature,and part performance has been established.The fluctuation of the HAZ temperature in four-laser scanning areas was decreased from 30.85℃to 17.41℃.Thus,the consistency of the sintering performance of the produced large component has been improved.Based on the controllable temperature field,a dynamically adjusting strategy for laser spot size was proposed,by which the fabrication efficiency was improved up to 65.38%.The current research results were of great significance to the further industrial applications of large-scale PBF equipment.

Mechanical and damping performances of TPMS lattice metamaterials fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

Lattice metamaterials based on three-period minimum surface(TPMS)are an effective means to achieve lightweight and high-strength materials which are widely used in various fields such as aerospace and ships.However,its vibration and noise reduction,and damping properties have not been fully studied.Therefore,in this study,the TPMS structures with parameterization were designed by the method of surface migration,and the TPMS structures with high forming quality was manufactured by laser powder bed fusion(LPBF).The mechanical properties and energy absorption characteristics of the beam and TPMS structures were studied and compared by quasi-static compression.The modal shapes of the beam lattice structures and TPMS structures were obtained by the free modal analysis,and the damping properties of two structures were obtained by modal tests.For the two structures after heat treatment with the same porosity of 70%,the yield strength of the beam lattice structure reaches 40.76 MPa,elastic modulus is 20.38 GPa,the energy absorption value is 32.23 MJ·m^(-3),the damping ratio is 0.52%.The yield strength,elastic modulus,energy absorption value,and damping ratio of the TPMS structure are 50.74 MPa,25.37 GPa,47.34 MJ·m^(-3),and 0.99%,respectively.The results show that TPMS structures exhibit more excellent mechanical properties and energy absorption,better damping performance,and obvious advantages in structural load and vibration and noise reduction compared with the beam lattice structures under the same porosity.

Alloy design for laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing:a critical review

Metal additive manufacturing(AM)has been extensively studied in recent decades.Despite the significant progress achieved in manufacturing complex shapes and structures,challenges such as severe cracking when using existing alloys for laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)AM have persisted.These challenges arise because commercial alloys are primarily designed for conventional casting or forging processes,overlooking the fast cooling rates,steep temperature gradients and multiple thermal cycles of L-PBF.To address this,there is an urgent need to develop novel alloys specifically tailored for L-PBF technologies.This review provides a comprehensive summary of the strategies employed in alloy design for L-PBF.It aims to guide future research on designing novel alloys dedicated to L-PBF instead of adapting existing alloys.The review begins by discussing the features of the L-PBF processes,focusing on rapid solidification and intrinsic heat treatment.Next,the printability of the four main existing alloys(Fe-,Ni-,Al-and Ti-based alloys)is critically assessed,with a comparison of their conventional weldability.It was found that the weldability criteria are not always applicable in estimating printability.Furthermore,the review presents recent advances in alloy development and associated strategies,categorizing them into crack mitigation-oriented,microstructure manipulation-oriented and machine learning-assisted approaches.Lastly,an outlook and suggestions are given to highlight the issues that need to be addressed in future work.

Influence of heat treatment on microstructure,mechanical and corrosion behavior of WE43 alloy fabricated by laser-beam powder bed fusion

Magnesium(Mg)alloys are considered to be a new generation of revolutionary medical metals.Laser-beam powder bed fusion(PBF-LB)is suitable for fabricating metal implants withpersonalized and complicated structures.However,the as-built part usually exhibits undesirable microstructure and unsatisfactory performance.In this work,WE43 parts were firstly fabricated by PBF-LB and then subjected to heat treatment.Although a high densification rate of 99.91%was achieved using suitable processes,the as-built parts exhibited anisotropic and layeredmicrostructure with heterogeneously precipitated Nd-rich intermetallic.After heat treatment,fine and nano-scaled Mg24Y5particles were precipitated.Meanwhile,theα-Mg grainsunderwent recrystallization and turned coarsened slightly,which effectively weakened thetexture intensity and reduced the anisotropy.As a consequence,the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were significantly improved to(250.2±3.5)MPa and(312±3.7)MPa,respectively,while the elongation was still maintained at a high level of 15.2%.Furthermore,the homogenized microstructure reduced the tendency of localized corrosion and favoredthe development of uniform passivation film.Thus,the degradation rate of WE43 parts was decreased by an order of magnitude.Besides,in-vitro cell experiments proved their favorable biocompatibility.

A review on the multi-scaled structures and mechanical/thermal properties of tool steels fabricated by laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

The laser powder bed fusion(LPBF) process can integrally form geometrically complex and high-performance metallic parts that have attracted much interest,especially in the molds industry.The appearance of the LPBF makes it possible to design and produce complex conformal cooling channel systems in molds.Thus,LPBF-processed tool steels have attracted more and more attention.The complex thermal history in the LPBF process makes the microstructural characteristics and properties different from those of conventional manufactured tool steels.This paper provides an overview of LPBF-processed tool steels by describing the physical phenomena,the microstructural characteristics,and the mechanical/thermal properties,including tensile properties,wear resistance,and thermal properties.The microstructural characteristics are presented through a multiscale perspective,ranging from densification,meso-structure,microstructure,substructure in grains,to nanoprecipitates.Finally,a summary of tool steels and their challenges and outlooks are introduced.

High-accuracy calibration for multi-laser powder bed fusion via in situ detection and parameter identification

Multi-laser powder bed fusion(ML-PBF)adopts multiple laser-scanner systems to increase the build envelope and build speed,but its calibration is an iterative and time-consuming process.In particular,multiple large-scale scan fields have a complex distortion in the overlap area,challenging the calibration process.In this study,owing to the enormous workload and alignment problems in the calibration of multiple scan fields,a novel calibration system is designed in this study to realize in situ auto-detection of numerous laser spots in the build chamber to ensure high efficiency and accuracy.Moreover,because the detectable area could not cover the entire build area and the detection data still contained errors,a virtual laser-scanner system was established by identifying the assembly defects and galvo nonlinearities of the ML-PBF system from the detection data,which served as the system's controller to improve calibration accuracy.The multi-field alignment error was less than 0.012%,which could avoid the intersection and separation of scan paths in multi-laser scanning and therefore meet the requirements for high-precision ML-PBF.Finally,the reliability of the method was verified theoretically using principal component analysis.

Laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing of NiTi shape memory alloys: a review

NiTi alloys have drawn significant attentions in biomedical and aerospace fields due to their unique shape memory effect(SME),superelasticity(SE),damping characteristics,high corrosion resistance,and good biocompatibility.Because of the unsatisfying processabilities and manufacturing requirements of complex NiTi components,additive manufacturing technology,especially laser powder bed fusion(LPBF),is appropriate for fabricating NiTi products.This paper comprehensively summarizes recent research on the NiTi alloys fabricated by LPBF,including printability,microstructural characteristics,phase transformation behaviors,lattice structures,and applications.Process parameters and microstructural features mainly influence the printability of LPBF-processed NiTi alloys.The phase transformation behaviors between austenite and martensite phases,phase transformation temperatures,and an overview of the influencing factors are summarized in this paper.This paper provides a comprehensive review of the mechanical properties with unique strain-stress responses,which comprise tensile mechanical properties,thermomechanical properties(e.g.critical stress to induce martensitic transformation,thermo-recoverable strain,and SE strain),damping properties and hardness.Moreover,several common structures(e.g.a negative Poisson’s ratio structure and a diamond-like structure)are considered,and the corresponding studies are summarized.It illustrates the various fields of application,including biological scaffolds,shock absorbers,and driving devices.In the end,the paper concludes with the main achievements from the recent studies and puts forward the limitations and development tendencies in the future.

Phase-field simulation of lack-of-fusion defect and grain growth during laser powder bed fusion of Inconel 718

The anisotropy of the structure and properties caused by the strong epitaxial growth of grains during laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)significantly affects the mechanical performance of Inconel 718 alloy components such as turbine disks.The defects(lack-of-fusion Lo F)in components processed via L-PBF are detrimental to the strength of the alloy.The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of laser scanning parameters on the epitaxial grain growth and LoF formation in order to obtain the parameter space in which the microstructure is refined and LoF defect is suppressed.The temperature field of the molten pool and the epitaxial grain growth are simulated using a multiscale model combining the finite element method with the phase-field method.The LoF model is proposed to predict the formation of LoF defects resulting from insufficient melting during L-PBF.Defect mitigation and grain-structure control during L-PBF can be realized simultaneously in the model.The simulation shows the input laser energy density for the as-deposited structure with fine grains and without LoF defects varied from 55.0–62.5 J·mm^(-3)when the interlayer rotation angle was 0°–90°.The optimized process parameters(laser power of 280 W,scanning speed of 1160 mm·s^(-1),and rotation angle of 67°)were computationally screened.In these conditions,the average grain size was 7.0μm,and the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength at room temperature were(1111±3)MPa and(820±7)MPa,respectively,which is 8.8%and10.5%higher than those of reported.The results indicating the proposed multiscale computational approach for predicting grain growth and Lo F defects could allow simultaneous grain-structure control and defect mitigation during L-PBF.

In-situ 3D contour measurement for laser powder bed fusion based on phase guidance

In-situ layerwise imaging measurement of laser powder bed fusion(LPBF)provides a wealth of forming and defect data which enables monitoring of components quality and powder bed homogeneity.Using high-resolution camera layerwise imaging and image processing algorithms to monitor fusion area and powder bed geometric defects has been studied by many researchers,which successfully monitored the contours of components and evaluated their accuracy.However,research for the methods of in-situ 3D contour measurement or component edge warping identification is rare.In this study,a 3D contour mea-surement method combining gray intensity and phase difference is proposed,and its accuracy is verified by designed experiments.The results show that the high-precision of the 3D contours can be achieved by the constructed energy minimization function.This method can detect the deviations of common ge-ometric features as well as warpage at LPBF component edges,and provides fundamental data for in-situ quality monitoring tools.

Investigation of the Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si Alloy

Laser powder bed fusion(LPBF)is an advanced manufacturing technology;however,inappropriate LPBF process parameters may cause printing defects in materials.In the present work,the LPBF process of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si alloy was investigated by a two-step optimization approach.Subsequently,heat transfer and liquid flow behaviors during LPBF were simulated by a well-tested phenomenological model,and the defect formation mechanisms in the as-fabricated alloy were discussed.The optimized process parameters for LPBF were detected as laser power changed from 195 W to 210 W,with scanning speed of 1250 mm/s.The LPBF process was divided into a laser irradiation stage,a spreading flow stage,and a solidification stage.The morphologies and defects of deposited tracks were affected by liquid flow behavior caused by rapid cooling rates.The findings of this research can provide valuable support for printing defect-free metal components.

Understanding the Rayleigh instability in humping phenomenon during laser powder bed fusion process

The periodic undulation of a molten track’s height profile in laser-based powder bed fusion of metals(PBF-LB/M)is a commonly observed phenomena that can cause defects and building failure during the manufacturing process.However a quantitative analysis of such instabilities has not been fully established and so here we used Rayleigh–Plateau theory to determine the stability of a single molten track in PBF-LB/M and tested it with various processing conditions by changing laser power and beam shape.The analysis discovered that normalized enthalpy,which relates to energy input density,determines whether a molten track is initially unstable and if so,the growth rate for the instability.Additionally,whether the growth rate ultimately yields significant undulation depends on the melt duration,estimated by dwell time in our experiment.

Compressive mechanical properties and shape memory effect of NiTi gradient lattice structures fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

Laser additive manufacturing (AM) of lattice structures with light weight, excellent impact resistance, and energy absorption performance is receiving considerable attention in aerospace, transportation, and mechanical equipment application fields. In this study, we designed four gradient lattice structures (GLSs) using the topology optimization method, including the unidirectional GLS, the bi-directional increasing GLS, the bi-directional decreasing GLS and the none-GLS. All GLSs were manufactureed by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The uniaxial compression tests and finite element analysis were conducted to investigate the influence of gradient distribution features on deformation modes and energy absorption performance of GLSs. The results showed that, compared with the 45° shear fracture characteristic of the none-GLS, the unidirectional GLS, the bi-directional increasing GLS and the bi-directional decreasing GLS had the characteristics of the layer-by-layer fracture, showing considerably improved energy absorption capacity. The bi-directional increasing GLS showed a unique combination of shear fracture and layer-by-layer fracture, having the optimal energy absorption performance with energy absorption and specific energy absorption of 235.6 J and 9.5 J g-1 at 0.5 strain, respectively. Combined with the shape memory effect of NiTi alloy, multiple compression-heat recovery experiments were carried out to verify the shape memory function of LPBF-processed NiTi GLSs. These findings have potential value for the future design of GLSs and the realization of shape memory function of NiTi components through laser AM.

A comparison of the microstructure-dependent corrosion of dual-structured Mg-Li alloys fabricated by powder consolidation methods:Laser powder bed fusion vs pulse plasma sintering

In this study, powder metallurgy methods were used to fabricate Mg-7.5Li-3Al-Zn alloys from repowdered extruded alloys. Extruded alloys were powdered using ultrasonic atomization, and then laser powder bed fusion(LPBF) and pulse plasma sintering(PPS) were used to consolidate the bulk materials. A comparison of the properties of the fabricated alloys with those of a conventionally extruded one was carried out using methods that characterized the microstructure and corrosion resistance. When compared to their conventionally extruded counterpart, LPBF and PPS materials exhibited refined microstructures with low enrichment in Al Li and coarse Al, Zn, Mn precipitates. The main drawback of the LPBF alloy, printed for the needs of this study, was its porosity, which had a negative effect on its corrosion. The presence of unrecrystallized particle boundaries in the PPS alloy was also unbeneficial with regard to corrosion. The advantage of the LPBF and PPS processes was the ability to change the proportion of α(Mg) to β(Li), which when the complete consolidation of the material is achievable, may increase the corrosion resistance of dual-structured Mg-Li alloys. The results show that powder metallurgy routes have a wide potential to be used for the manufacture of Mg-Li based alloys.

Overview of finite elements simulation of temperature profile to estimate properties of materials 3D-printed by laser powder-bed fusion

Laser powder bed fusion(LPBF),like many other additive manufacturing techniques,offers flexibility in design expected to become a disruption to the manufacturing industry.The current cost of LPBF process does not favor a try-anderror way of research,which makes modelling and simulation a field of superior importance in that area of engineering.In this work,various methods used to overcome challenges in modeling at different levels of approximation of LPBF process are reviewed.Recent efforts made towards a reliable and computationally effective model to simulate LPBF process using finite element(FE)codes are presented.A combination of ray-tracing technique,the solution of the radiation transfer equation and absorption measurements has been used to establish an analytical equation,which gives a more accurate approximation of laser energy deposition in powder-substrate configuration.When this new analytical energy deposition model is used in in FE simulation,with other physics carefully set,it enables us to get reliable cooling curves and melt track morphology that agree well with experimental observations.The use of more computationally effective approximation,without explicit topological changes,allows to simulate wider geometries and longer scanning time leading to many applications in real engineering world.Different applications are herein presented including:prediction of printing quality through the simulated overlapping of consecutive melt tracks,simulation of LPBF of a mixture of materials and estimation of martensite inclusion in printed steel.

A review and a statistical analysis of porosity in metals additively manufactured by laser powder bed fusion

Additive manufacturing(AM), or 3D printing, is an emerging technology that “adds” materials up and constructs products through a layer-by-layer procedure. Laser powder bed fusion(LPBF) is a powder-bed-based AM technology that can fabricate a large variety of metallic materials with excellent quality and accuracy. However, various defects such as porosity,cracks, and incursions can be generated during the printing process. As the most universal and a near-inevitable defect,porosity plays a substantial role in determining the mechanical performance of as-printed products. This work presents a comprehensive review of literatures that focused on the porosity in LPBF printed metals. The formation mechanisms,evaluation methods, effects on mechanical performance with corresponding models, and controlling methods of porosity have been illustrated and discussed in-depth. Achievements in four representative metals, namely Ti-6Al-4V, 316L, Inconel 718, and Al Si10Mg, have been critically reviewed with a statistical analysis on the correlation between porosity fraction and tensile properties. Ductility has been determined as the most sensitive property to porosity among several key tensile properties. This review also provides potential directions and opportunities to address the current porosity-related challenges.

3D particle tracking velocimetry for the determination of temporally resolved particle trajectories within laser powder bed fusion of metals

Within this work,we present a system for the measurement of the three-dimensional(3D)trajectories of spatters and entrained particles during laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)of metals.It is comprised of two ultrahigh-speed cameras and a reconstruction task specific processing reconstruction algorithm.The system enables an automated determination of 3D measures from the trajectories of a large number of tracked particles.Ambiguity evolving from an underdetermined geometrical situation induced by a two-camera setup is resolved within the tracking using a priori knowledge of L-PBF of metals.All processing steps were optimized to run on a graphics processing unit to allow the processing of large amounts of data within an appropriate time frame.The overall approach was validated by a comparison of the measurement results to synthetic images with a known 3D ground truth.